Hundreds were on hand Monday night for a private screening for cast and crew of the new feature film “Savannah” at Trustees Theater.

Producers John and Billings Cay were joined on stage before the film by co-writers Ken Carter and Annette Haywood-Carter.

Haywood-Carter also directed.

It was a triumphant moment in Savannah’s rich movie history.

Local producers, local writers, local director, lots of local talent.

John Cay briefly and movingly noted the genesis of “Savannah,” which was adapted from research done by his father decades ago on Ward Allen, a legendary Savannah character.

Born into a wealthy 19th century family, Allen was less interested in money than in his two passions, which included duck hunting, alcohol and his wife Lucy.

Allen doesn’t just hunt for sport, by the way. He supplies birds for the local market.

As played with a burning intensity by Jim Caviezel, Allen shows friendship and compassion to his hunting partner Christmas Moultrie, who was born into slavery at Mulberry Grove Plantation just before the end of the Civil War.

As the historical figure Moultrie, British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor is wonderful in arguably the movie’s most nuanced role.

There are some other actors movie buffs will recognize, including Sam Shepard, Jaimie Alexander and Hal Holbrook.

And you’ll likely recognize some other faces too, given the number of locals who round out the cast. It’s nice to see Stratton Leopold in front of the camera for a change. He appears in a brief flashback with Moultrie as a child.

The lush visuals of “Savannah” fittingly focus more on area waterways than on our iconic architecture.

After all, the highly educated Allen feels compelled to challenge himself with “the test of wildness.”

And that turns out to be a tough test.

Allen seems dispirited by the beginnings of industrialization along the Savannah River. And government limits on duck hunting, first treated by Allen as a joke, eventually catch up with him.

And time is always nipping at his heels, as his relationships with his friend Christmas and his wife Lucy are sorely tested.

Given the unpredictability of the film business, I won’t even try to predict what will happen next for “Savannah,” but Monday’s screening was received with genuine warmth and enthusiasm.

Look for more news soon regarding release dates.

A closer look at Jan. local employment data

The local employment data for January was released later than usual, but there was generally encouraging news in the numbers.

The unemployment rate for the metro Savannah area increased from 8.7 percent in December to 8.9 percent in January, but that number is not adjusted for ordinary seasonal factors.

January is always a terrible month for employment, even in a booming economy.

In January of 2011, our local unemployment rate was 9.4 percent.

Compared to January a year ago, we had about 200 fewer people in the labor force — a bad sign — but about 800 more people reported having jobs.

All of those numbers come from the ongoing survey of households. That survey has a broader definition of the word “job” than the survey of establishments with payrolls.

The establishment survey also reflected the expected job loss from December to January, but we gained 1,300 jobs compared to January of 2011.

We need to add more than 1,300 jobs a year just to keep pace with population growth, but at least we’re moving in the right direction.

Pessimists will see plenty of bad news here and will note that we’re likely years away from our pre-recession peak of employment.

Optimists will counter that employment is a lagging economic indicator. Businesses and governments are relatively slow to shed employees when times turn bad and are cautious about new hiring as conditions improve.

The recent flow of economic data at the local, state and national level suggests we’ll see employment continue to gain ground in the coming months.

It’s worth adding that the Savannah metro area (Chatham, Effingham and Bryan counties) is doing considerably better than the city of Savannah itself, where the January 2012 unemployment rate is 10.5 percent. That’s down from 11 percent a year ago but still pretty weak.

Still, the city of Savannah’s unemployment rate is the same or better than most of Georgia’s other larger cities, including Atlanta, Augusta and Macon.